The unknown Catholics of Samos Island

The calendars would write “Year 1900” when three French Catholic monks of the African Mission would arrive for the first time in Samos Island, a remoted island of the Eastern Aegean Sea, near Turkey. Shortly thereafter, the White Fathers, as they were called, would establish their monastic community and parish in the Vathy area of Samos.

The Catholic Parish Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or “Fragoklissia” would serve in the early 1900s a small community of Catholics, which would outnumber about 80 people. Over the years, the Catholic community would begin to flourish in favor of the commercial links and of the consulates of the Catholic doctrine that were being hosted by the island.

On March 19th, 1901, the French School of Saint Joseph would open its doors. Until the end of their presence on the island, on June 28th, 1971, St. Joseph’s nuns wouldl host and offer a high level of education to hundreds of children coming from the cities and villages of Samos, the rest of the Aegean Sea’s islands and of Athens. Famous for their charity work to all people without discrimination, they would offer a great relief to the children of the Armenian refugees in 1920 and to all the inhabitants of the island during the Second World War.

The life for the Catholic Parish would continue until the early 1970s. The monks would buy large areas of land to create the catholic cemetery, its chapel, but also to cultivate vines for the production of special wine for the celebration of Divine Liturgy and the Eucharist.

In 1970, the last French monk, Francis Gagiou, would return to France and shortly before leaving, he would sell the property of the monastic community to two families in Samos. Since then, the main building that houses the temple and an attic will belong to the Catholic parish. Gagiou would be honored by the Municipality of Samos island for his offer and services to the local community. The monk would be followed by the Saint Joseph nuns and everything showed that the end of the Catholic community had been reached.

The citizens of Samos would rejoice with great regret the monk and the nuns knowing that this meant the end of a rich cultural and tolerant society that brought great spiritual development to the place.

“Until today, older people are moved when they remember the farewell to the nuns, or when they remember their daily lives while passing by the Catholic Church,” says the current subdeacon of the Catholic parish of Samos, Mr Marios Foscolos who helped us during the research for the Catholic parish and the catholic community of Samos.

The revival and future of the community

The building of the parish was renovated in 2000, giving a new hope to the Catholic community and the island. In 2017, the Catholic community outnumbers about 200 people of all ages.

“We are constantly finding new people that we did not know that they existed and were not recorded anywhere,” says Marios Foskolos.

The main feature of the island’s catholic community is that it does not consist exclusively of Greeks but has also a huge percentage of Italians, Polish, Belgians, Albanians and other nationalities. Recently, Samos would welcome 45 Catholic French-speaking refugees from places such as Cameroon, Congo and North African states.

“With the refugee flows, our flock has Been increased and we are called upon to meet its needs and to stand next to it. Our goal is to embrace refugees and to integrate them into our community. The mass continues in the Greek language according to the regulations of the Second Vatican Council, where the Latin is abolished and the mass is done in the national language of each country. However, they are being offered the opportunity to chant some hymns in French and read some extracts from the New Testament in French in order to feel intimate and fully integrated.”

In Samos the Catholic families are scattered on the island. There are families in all places, in Vathi, in Karlovasi, in Platanos or in Marathokampos. Unlike other Catholic doctrines, Greek Catholics of Samos make mixed marriages with Orthodox Christians without any problem.

“The catholic community of Samos has the happiness of being composed of all ages and especially of new ages. May all of her members not be extremely active but that does not mean that its optimistic future will stop. Indeed, there is a young Samiot who is in the second year of the sanctuary, without of course knowing if he is going return. In any case, we believe that the future is hopeful.”

Opening its doors

“It has been the right time to change the mindset that the Catholic Church is closed and remote. It was supposed to be open to the world, fearless and with perspective to re-embrace the local community. Coming here from the island of Tinos I thought that the parish should become again an active part of the island’s life.”

The last years, the Catholic parish is open to the public almost all the day. The priest comes twice a month for the mass while some gatherings are being organized in order to empower and encourage the community. During the Holy Week, two concerts of church music were held with works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Easter sacred music and others.

“The church was full of people during those two days of concerts. If we had concerts for a a whole week, I’m sure it would be full of people for all these days. Thanks to the concerts, there was a raising of the awareness regarding the existence and the mission of the parish. However, there are still a lot of people who do not know about us and we are trying to communicate our work through the local media.”

The “difficult” charity work

“We are trying to find solutions and resources as people in need hut us the door every day. Our goal is to alleviate the pain of every person. Unfortunately, our capabilities are still too limited in relation to the number of people in need and we are constantly looking for solutions.”

With the aid of Caritas, the global philanthropic organization of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Parish of Samos is trying to increase the number of families (Greeks and refugees) that support financially. Our cooperation with the Catholic parishes of other Greek islands has helped to a great extent the charity work in Samos.

“There have been requests for help mainly on the refugee issue which unfortunately we have not been able to satisfy. This is why we have approached other parishes, such as the parish of Tinos, with whom we have co-operation on charity issues. Generally with all the Catholic parishes and dioceses of the other islands we have created very good relationships and excellent cooperation and mutual assistance.”

Closing the door to the history of the Catholic Parish of Samos at 09.30 in the evening, Mr. Foskolos asked us to remember just one thing:

“The Catholic Parish of Samos is a gem for the island. Many are being moved to the memory of a robust Catholic community and parish. Now the façade of the building is ready to collapse and nothing reminds us of the glory of the past. Unfortunately, the building does not belong to the Catholic parish after 1970 but only to individuals and we would like to emphasize the need to repair it so that Samos does not lose something so precious for its history.”

Georgia Gleoudi is a graduate of "MA in Religious Roots in Europe: in Lund University and has a BA in International Relations and European Studies from Panteion University, Athens. She is interested in Religion and State relations, faith - based diplomacy and intercultural relations

Will Islamophobes take over democracies in the West?

One is alarmed to see how Islamophobes have
begun to dominate secular forces in `civilized’ western democracies. During the
2008 American presidential election `several Republican politicians including
Donald Trump asserted that Democratic candidate Barack Obama is secretly a
Muslim’.

When British Prime Minister Teresa May
`criticized Trump for re-posting material from the far-right Britain First.
Trump retorted ` it would be better if she dealt with the “destructive radical
Islamic terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom” rather than
focusing on him’.

In Denmark, emergence of two new far-right
parties in the country `Hard Line’ (‘Stram Kurs’) and `The New Right’ (`Nye
Borgerlige’) may threaten re-election of ruling centre-right alliance by
June 17 deadline. The `Hard Line’, founded in 2017, held ceremonies to
desecrate Holy Qur’an (burn it or hurling into air) at public meetings. It
demands deporting Muslims back to their country of origin. Danish courts set
Islamaphobes free with a slap on wrist. `Hardliner’ founder Rasmus Paludan is
roaming free despite a 14-day conditional jail- sentence for racism toward a
spokeswoman for the Black Lives Matter movement. Paludan, a software engineer,
developed the ‘Paludan-game’, popular in Danish schoolyards. The game requires
`Christian players to catch the Muslims and Jews, put them in cages and insult
them’.

In Germany, there had been around 71
attacks on mosques and 908 crimes against German Muslims (ranging from
verbal to physical attacks and murder attempts), besides 1,413 attacks on
refugees. Similar attacks took place in other European Union states and
Britain. EU and other states shrug off existence of Islomophobia. As such,
Islamophobe have a heyday carrying out discrimination against the Muslims in
various forms (race, religion, workplace, etc.). On March 14, 2017, the
European Court of Justice (EJC) passed two ineffectual judgments to rule on
non-discrimination at work on religious grounds.

Headscarf versus Turban

In Europe, France spearheads abhorrence to voile,
scarf, burka,niqab (call it by any name). The Sikhs’ turban (or
the Jews’ kippah also) has quasi-religious significance. The Sikhs’
religion calls upon them to comply with five Ks in their everyday life. The
Five K’s include kesh (uncut hair), kanga (small comb made of
wood tucked in kesh), karpan (sword or dagger), kara
(metallic bracelet), and kachhera or kachha (underwear). Kesh
symbolises holiness. Men adorn kesh with a turban or dastaar/pugree,
while women may use the dastaar or a stole. Karpan, kept by men
and women, is wrapped around the torso with a strap called gatra. It
reflects readiness to protect the weak and fight against injustice.

Kara
represents strength and integrity of the man or woman. Kachhera, a cotton boxer
worn by men and women, symbolizes self-control and chastity and prohibits
adultery. These articles are worn at all times by the puritan sikhs, but a
heretic sect, narankari, may not grow kesh. You come across Sikhs
everywhere. Nowhere they are object of derisions because of their turbans.
During his meeting with Manmohan Singh, the then French president Li Pen
assured the Indian premier that there was no ban on Sikhs’ turbans in his country
(Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, July 16, 2009, Indo-Asian News Service). His attitude
marked a contrast to his consistently hostile stand on voile.

The French leaders of various political
shades keep lashing out at burka for political expediency as “a sign of
subjugation and submission that deprives women of their identity and hinder
their social participation”.

They consider it a “cultural tool of male
oppression”. France appointed a 58-member presidential Stasi commission for
burka probe, but no commission for turban (or kippah) probe.

John R. Brown points out that “French
public figures seemed to blame the headscarves for a surprising range of
France’s problems, including anti-Semitism, Islamic fundamentalism, growing
ghettoisation in the poor suburbs, and the breakdown of order in the classroom”
(Why the French don’t like headscarves, 2007, Princeton University Press, New
Jersey, p.1).

He observed that legislation against
headscarves was portrayed as support to “women battling for freedom in
Afghanistan, schoolteachers trying to teach history in Lyon, and all those who
wished to reinforce the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity”. The
voile was considered a “symbol of mounting Islamism and decaying social life”
(p. 1, ibid.).

Brown denudes political motives of the
Stasi commission. He reminds that ‘the Commission was forced to work quickly so
that a law could be passed before the spring regional elections. In a sense,
the timetable was set by the haunting fear that La Pen’s Far Right could repeat
its April 2002 victories.

In such a short period of time, banning the
voile was the only way to show that the politicians of the “sensible centre
were responding to France’s new enemies” (pp. 242-243 ibid.). Brown
reminds: “The Stasi Commission had proposed banning political signs as well and
many observers commented that Nike symbols had no place at school, either”.
But, follow-up action is awaited, ad infinitum.

The ban on burka is ostensibly meant to
integrate Muslim women in French society. But, it would, in practice, further
isolate Muslim women. Unfortunately, the French media and public figures
harbour negative perceptions about Muslim community.

These perceptions manifest themselves, in
early 2004, in a ban on headscarves, euphemistically called “clothing that
reflected religious affiliations of pupils in schools”.

The law did not attract Muslim girls into
greater social cohesion. Instead, it forced them to stay away from schools, the
hidden purpose of the piece of legislation. The law was ostensibly based on
recommendation of the presidential Stasi commission. But, this commission
itself was formed under stimuli from the anti-Muslim media and politicians.

The media, through its reportages and
cartoons, portrayed headscarves as “great danger to the French society and its
tradition of secularism”. Legislation against the voile is likely to further
corner Muslim women, particularly Pakistani immigrants. The anti-Muslim
perceptions show themselves in diverse ways.

Why dress codes anachronistic?

The European legislation on the dress code
is likely to be counterproductive as was the past legislation in the Muslim and
non-Muslim world. The European legislation on the dress code is likely to
be counterproductive as was the past legislation in the Muslim and non-Muslim
world. The Fourth Council of the Lateran of 1215 ruled that Jews and
Muslims must be distinguishable by their dress (Latin ‘habitus’). Pope Paul IV
ordered in 1555 that in the Papal States it must be a yellow, peaked hat, and
from 1567 for 20 years it was compulsory in Lithuania.

In 850, Caliph al Mutawakkil ordered
Christians and Jews to wear a sash called ‘zunnah’ and a distinctive kind of
shawl or headscarf called ‘taylasin’ (the Christians had already been
required to wear the sash).

In the 11th century, Fatimid Caliph al
Hakim ordered Christians to put on half-metre wooden crosses and Jews to wear
wooden calves around their necks. In the late 12th century, Almohad ruler Abu
Yusuf ordered the Jews of the Maghreb to wear dark blue garments with long
sleeves and saddle-like caps. His grandson Abdallah al Adil made a concession
after appeals from the Jews, relaxing the required clothing to yellow garments
and turbans.

In the 16th century, Jews of the Maghreb
could only wear sandals made of rushes and black turbans or caps with an extra
red piece of cloth. Ottoman sultans continued to regulate the clothing of their
non-Muslim subjects.

In 1577, Murad III issued an edict
forbidding Jews and Christians from wearing dresses, turbans, and sandals. In
1580, he changed his mind, restricting the previous prohibition to turbans and
requiring ‘dhimmis’ to wear black shoes; Jews and Christians also had to wear
red and black hats, respectively.

Observing in 1730 that some Muslims took to
the habit of wearing caps similar to those of the Jews, Mahmud I ordered the
hanging of the perpetrators. Mustafa III personally helped to enforce his
decrees regarding clothes.

In 1758, he was walking incognito in
Istanbul and ordered the beheading of a Jew and an Armenian seen dressed in
forbidden attire.

The last Ottoman decree affirming the
distinctive clothing for ‘dhimmis’ (non-Muslims tax payers) was issued
in 1837 by Mahmud II. Discriminatory clothing was not enforced in those Ottoman
provinces where Christians were in the majority, such as Greece and the
Balkans.

Obviously, the European ban on Muslim
scarves or burkas is a tit-for-tat for Muslim rulers’ behaviour in their
heyday. That’s why it does not encompass non-Muslim/Jewish kippahs or turbans
also. Interestingly, wearing a scarf or a kippah is a custom with common
meaning: recognition that there is someone ‘above’ human beings who watches
their every act. For instance, most theists wear cover their heads with a piece
of cloth, or wear a cap during prayers.

Inference

History tells that religious hatred brought
about downfall of flourishing empires. Wearing a distinctive religious dress is
historically reflection of rulers’ tolerance. Early followers of Christianity,
in its infancy, were so frightened that they could not tell fellow Christians
that they have embraced Christianity. Fearful of persecution, they indicated
through eyeball movement that they too are Christians. They then walked along,
with their mouths shut, to a safe place, sat on ground, and drew a cross with
their fingers on ground, to show their conversion. Voracious readers may go
through Braudel’s Civilisations. The Jews took refuge at Massada (a
Mediterranean island) to escape being exterminated by them. The Romans followed
them through. Jews were left with no choice but to commit suicide-`bombing’.
Have Jews and Christians been eliminated from face of earth? Genghis Khan was
indifferent to what religion his subjects followed. If he had been a fanatic,
the world would have followed only one religion, pantheism, his religion?

Muslim rulers also failed to enforce a
discriminatory dress code during their heyday. Nowadays, they themselves live
like `a poisoned rat stinking in a hole’ (Rohingya in Myanmar, cow-lynched
India Palestine `State’, Europe, USA) Currently, there is no antipathy to Jews’
kippah (or the Sikhs’ turbans) like Muslim veils. The Muslims
also, like the Jews, need legislative protection to live in peace like other
communities. Current tide of Islomophobia caricatures veneer of religious
tolerance in the West.

Related

Not faith, ‘but those who manipulate the faithful’ driving wedge between religions

Following a string of hate-fuelled attacks on places of worship around
the world, the High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations (UNOAC), said on Thursday that it was with a “heavy heart” that he was opening
the annual UN-backed forum in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the role of cultural
dialogue in building human solidarity and countering violence.

Miguel Angel Moratinos said the theme of the 5th World Forum for Intercultural
Dialogue, Building
Dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality & violent extremism,
was very timely as those gathered at the Forum, which wraps up tomorrow, would
no doubt reflect on the “horrific terrorist attacks” that had taken place over
recent days and months.

“I stand before you today with a heavy heart”, he lamented, explaining that
just yesterday he had been in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had paid his
respects to the victims of terrorist attacks on Catholic Churches and hotels
that left over 250 people dead on Easter Sunday.

Citing a “spate of hate crimes and terrorist attacks” targeting places
of worship, Mr. Moratinos said this was a stark reminder that that “no
religion, country or ethnicity is spared” from such unspeakable violence.

He recalled that last Saturday, a synagogue in California was attacked
while Jewish worshipers were observing the final day of Passover, and that last
year there had been a deadly shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburg. These
incidents came amidst similar violence, including an attack on a cathedral in
the Philippines, as well as the massacre last month of Muslims worshiping
inside mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“In all these heinous and cowardly attacks… we see a common pattern:
hatred of the ‘other’, he said. “These criminals are hijacking entire faith
communities, pitting religions against each other.”

Yet the problem is never the faith, Mr. Moratinos affirmed, it is “those
who manipulate the faithful and turn them against each other by their perverted
interpretations of holy texts.”

Social
media only adds ‘fuel to the raging fire’

“The volatile nexus between protracted conflicts, terrorism, and violent
extremism remains an ongoing challenge for the international community”, he
stated, saying that violent extremists seek to “divide and sow instability in
our societies”.

According to Mr. Moratinos, social media platforms only add “fuel to the
raging fire”, along with the dark web, which offers a space for radicals,
white-supremist and ultra-right advocates to “spew their twisted ideologies”.

He maintained that preventing violent extremism and ensuring sustainable
peace are complimentary and mutually reinforcing goals.

“The importance of dialogue as an essential tool for conflict prevention
and prevent violent extremism cannot be overstated,” he stressed.

The problem is never the faith. It is those who manipulate the faithful
and turn them against each other by their perverted interpretations of holy
texts – UNAOC High Representative Miguel Moratinos

Mr. Moratinos also highlighted the role of youth in providing a
counter-narrative for violent extremism through their community engagement
promoting inter-cultural and inter-faith dialogue and countering hate speech
through positive use of social media.

“After all, these young people are our hope not only for the future but
also for our present”, he said. “Their work responds to the recommendations
outlined in the recent progress study on ‘youth, peace and security’ mandated
by the UN Security Council pursuant to resolution 2250, and the Plan of Action on Preventing Violent
Extremism”.

‘No room’
for exclusion

In her opening remarks, Nada Al-Nashif, Assistant Director-General for
the Social and Human Sciences at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), stressed the importance of promoting intercultural dialogue and
mutual understanding.

Noting that the Baku Process was launched by Azerbaijan over 10 years
ago to establish an effective and efficient dialogue between cultures and
civilizations, she said that while “we have come a long way”, there is a need
to focus and follow up with concrete actions to create continuity and impact.

She pointed to new emerging forces of division that are spreading
hatred, intolerance and ignorance.

At a time when cultural diversity is under threat from the pressures of
exclusive populism, she noted that “the world is facing the largest refugee and
displacement crisis of recent history”.

“New technologies with the potential to better connect individuals and
communities, are being misused to seed division and misunderstanding”, she
said.

Ms. Al-Nashif stressed the urgent need to bolster inclusion and cohesion
in societies undergoing “deep, sometimes unpredictable transformations”, adding
that they are also important to catalyze the necessary innovation to advance
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Challenges today are complex and pay no respect to borders,” she
underscored. “There is no room for unilateralism or exclusion.”

The goal must be “to embrace change on the basis of human rights and
mutual respect, to shape it in positive directions, to craft a future that is
more just, inclusive and sustainable for every women and man,” she said.

Because “dialogue is key”, she said that is why it “stands at the heart
of UNESCO’s mission to build the defenses of peace in the minds of women and
men”.

Ms. Al-Nashif said that UNESCO tirelessly protects education as a human
right, calling it “the most effective way to disarm processes that can lead to
violent extremism, by undermining prejudice, by fighting ignorance and
indifference”.

“Diversity is our key resource for achieving inclusive and sustainable
societies,” she asserted.

Ms. Al-Nashif concluded by urging everyone to continue working together
to promote dialogue “to understand our differences, reinforce our common
values, and cooperate together for our common good”.

Baku
‘positive platform’ process

Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, spoke in depth about the Baku
Process, which he credited with focusing international attention on
intercultural dialogue, calling it a “good and positive platform to make the
right decision”.

Saying that the Baku process is “one of the most important” between
Europe and the rest of the world, he underscored: “We need dialogue on
cultural, inter-religious, political, economic and security issues.”

Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen, Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Secretary General, lamented that today the world is witnessing all kinds of
discrimination.

“Terrorism has no religion, race or nationality”, he asserted, calling
dialogue between cultures “an absolute necessity”.

Speaking on behalf of the Council of Europe, Deputy Secretary General
Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni argued that inclusive societies, with equal rights
and dignity for all, require understanding.

“Promotion of intercultural dialogue is not an event, it is a
never-ending challenge” that requires education to ease anxiousness and dispel
ignorance, she said. And that by coming together, with mutual assurances,
governments pave the way for social inclusion based on political will.

The final speaker at the opening ceremnony, Abdulazia Othman Altwaijri, Director
General of Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, spoke
passionately on the need for political will to make intercultural dialogue a
success.

“We cannot fight the rise of extremism without political will,” he said,
castigating the world’s decision-makers – from the global super powers to the
UN Security Council – for their inabilities to deliver much-needed progress on
this front.

Related

Ukraine’s Autocephaly: First Results and Possible Influence on Orthodox World

Nearly three months ago, on January 6, Patriarch Bartholomew signed the
Tomos of Autoceplahy for the Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Though the whole process of
granting autocephaly took less than a year – Ukraine’s President Petro
Poroshenko appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in April 2018 – the “healing
of the schism” seems to be requiring much more time as the reconciliation
between former schismatics and the Orthodox Church, which used to be the only
canonical one in Ukraine, can’t happen in one moment.

The Phanar is said to have implemented everything
Kyiv had asked it to: the leaders of the two previously schismatic churches –
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and Ukrainian
Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) were suddenly reinstated. The two
organizations merged in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which was
designed to unite the Ukrainian faithful and attract the followers of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). After the Tomos of
autocephaly was granted to the OCU in early January, its hierarchs and the state
urged the followers of other denominations (primarily of the UOC-MP) to join
the newly established church.

To date, more than 500 UOC-MP parishes have transferred to the OCU. Ukrainian media claim that the majority of them were
voluntary but according to the recent report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), in some cases they were initiated by state or local authorities or
even representatives of extreme right-wing groups, who were not members of
those religious communities. If the Orthodox Church of Ukraine wants the UOC-MP
followers actively join it, its hierarchs must intervene and show that violence
is not a solution.

Autocephaly was to become one of Poroshenko’s
main advantages during the elections. He finally brought to the Ukrainians an
independent church separate from Moscow and recognized by the Ecumenical
Patriarchate. However, recent polls show that he is lagging behind. The newly elected OCU Primate
Epiphanius often highlights the role of Petro Poroshenko in the process of gaining autocephaly but
it hardly yields any results as it makes the OCU look like a political project.

So far, the Tomos so hastily granted by
Constantinople hasn’t brought the long-expected peace to the Ukrainian
Orthodoxy. Believers are still divided, violence has grown and the authority of
the new church leaders in Ukraine is weak.

Autocephaly affected not only Ukraine but also the Orthodox world. The
Tomos, which was fiercely opposed by the Moscow Patriarchate for obvious
reasons, led to an increased level of misunderstanding between the Orthodox
Local Churches. Some Churches (of Antioch, Serbia and Poland) joined Moscow in
criticizing Constantinople while the others still haven’t recognized the
Orthodox Church of Ukraine. There have been calls to convene a Pan-Orthodox
Synaxis on the Ukrainian issue (for example by John X of Antioch) but Patriarch
Bartholomew refused to hold such a council.

The Ukrainian autocephaly did influence the relations between the Local
Churches, and this influence wasn’t positive.

Really disturbing is that the Ecumenical
Patriarchate can no longer unite or reconcile the other Local Churches. One can
remember the conflict between the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch in 2013
when the first established an archdiocese in Qatar, the land which canonically
belongs to the Patriarchate of Antioch. The Phanar that claims to bear the
title ‘first among equals’ did nothing to resolve the issue, and that was one
of the reasons why the most ancient Orthodox Church was absent at the
Pan-Orthodox Council convened by Patriarch Bartholomew on Crete in 2016.

However, Constantinople willingly interferes in
the affairs of the Local Churches if it’s beneficial for it. Along with the
Ukrainian issue, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is focused on France, in
particular on the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe
(AROCWE). On November 27, 2018, the Holy Synod of the EP suddenly and
unilaterally dissolved the Archdiocese declaring that all its parishes and
properties must be transferred to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The
Extraordinary General Assembly held on February 23, 2019, refused to dissolve
the Archdiocese. Later, it will be decided whether to come under the
jurisdiction of another Church – the Moscow Patriarchate, Russian Orthodox
Church Outside Russia or Romanian Orthodox Church.

It is still unclear why all of a sudden
Constantinople decided to revoke the Tomos of 1999 granted to the AROCWE. It is
rumored that this was masterminded by Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) of
France who decided to acquire the Archdiocese’s parishes. Of course, such an
act doesn’t boost Constantinople’s popularity among the AROCWE parishioners.

Another act unilaterally revoked by the Phanar
was the 1686 ruling that placed Ukraine under the Patriarchate of Moscow. This
was a decision that led to the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and
Constantinople. These two incidents are serious reasons for concern. What if it
decides to declare the ‘New Lands’ in Greece its own territory, for example? An
Orthodox war between the Church of Greece and the Phanar?

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has shown how easily
it can influence the fates of Orthodox Churches by revoking or interpreting
documents it had once issued. On the other hand, it’s not that capable of
resolving conflicts even in its own dioceses (see the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of America whose Primate Archbishop Demetrios faces strong
criticism amid numerous calls of Bartholomew to leave). The gap between Local
Churches is widening. And today the Ecumenical Patriarchate is not seen as the
leader, the ‘first among equals’ at least, that can unite the Orthodoxy and
deal with the threat of another great schism.